Springtime is a big season for fundraising walks and rides in Suffolk. So far this year, the city has supported the March of Dimes’ March for Babies, the American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure and the Suffolk Humane Society’s Mutt Strut. All have benefited from great weather, engaged participants and generous donors.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life will close out the season for fundraising walks with an all-nighter planned for May 16-17 at Bennett’s Creek Park. The event is arguably the biggest and most famous of all the fundraisers held in Suffolk each year.

There will be thousands of people involved in the event — from the participants walking to raise money to the volunteers helping to set up and tear down the tents, bleachers and other equipment that is needed to the vendors supplying food and the police officers directing traffic. Suffolk’s Rockin’ Relay for Life, as the local event is known, is an undertaking of massive proportions, requiring months of planning and arrangements all in support of the effort to raise as much money as possible to help fight cancer.

The Cancer Society has a solid record of reaching its fundraising goals — even in the midst of hard economic times — and that success rate has much to do with the fine volunteers and participants who commit their time and effort to the event. One such group is Team Riverfront, a team of folks from the North Suffolk neighborhood and their supporters and friends that includes an unusual percentage of cancer survivors.

Team Riverfront has been the second-leading fundraising team in the Suffolk event for the past two years, trailing close behind the perennially leading team from the city of Suffolk. The competitive factor makes the event more fun for members of both teams, but in the end all of the participants are united in their desire that the money they raise will include the dollars that are used to finally fund a cure for the disease. And they are united in their desire to support and honor the many people who suffer while the world awaits that cure.

It’s not too late for you to join the effort to fight cancer and enjoy the camaraderie of participating in the Relay. Visit www.relayforlife.org/suffolkva for information about registration and fundraising. Every little bit helps.